Legislation

The Bar Council has backed a government “Action Plan” to promote the UK’s legal services sector overseas.

Just what does the Coalition Government stand for? Charles Hale and Toby Craig investigate…

As we approach the first anniversary of the Coalition Government and the all-important alternative vote referendum, the past month has given us some of the clearest indications yet of what the unexpected alliance is all about. 

Response to Government announcement on Jackson; the Norgrove Review; criminal legal aid update; inaugural Bar Debate; and a clutch of new Silks.

We now have the Government response to the consultation on implementation of the Jackson reforms. It will have caused dismay to many. In large measure it intends to adopt all of the proposals. 

Eleanor Davison examines the role of the Serious Fraud Office under the new regime 

The Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) is currently the lead agency in the UK in prosecuting cases of overseas corruption. Under s 10 of the Bribery Act 2010 the SFO is poised to become the principal enforcer of the new regime and its declared aim in exercising its prosecutorial powers is to generate a cultural change in business so that bribery is no longer acceptable. 

The new Act: a review of the main provisions, by Robert-Jan Temmink 

The much-heralded Bribery Act 2010 (“the Act”) received the Royal Assent on 8 April 2010. Previous anti-bribery law had been a hotch-potch of common law and statutory provisions from 1889 to 1916 which together were difficult to understand, hard to apply and even harder for prosecutors to use effectively. The Act abolishes the common law offences and sweeps away the 19th and 20th Century Prevention of Corruption Acts. 

An outline of the Bar Council’s strategy 

Contributor
Peter Lodder QC  

A few weeks into the year and the predominant issue remains clear: the challenges of the proposed spending cuts which will have a profound effect on both the Civil and Criminal Justice Systems. 

• Increase by a third in direct instructions 
• Economic downturn a significant factor 

Use of direct access – where clients instruct a barrister directly as opposed to via a solicitor – is soaring as corporate counsel seek to cut costs during the economic downturn. 

Calls for Royal Commission to examine consitutional framework 

It is time for a close look at the British constitution, the Master of the Rolls has said. 

Nick Green QC reviews the events that shaped his year as Chairman and looks to the Bar’s future 

This is my final chance to express my thoughts as Chairman, before returning to civvy street. There is so much that has happened this year that it is hard to pull the threads together; but let me try. 

The BSB published on 27 September its third consultation on the implications for the Bar of the Legal Services Act 2007.